More from the epistle from James

More from James' letter to the dispersed Jewish Christians. The other day we were sitting in the Vancouver I'ntl airport and waiting for our flight that would take us to Fairbanks, Alaska. As I was sitting there, my mind went to the verse in chapter two that says, "as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." It is true that when the body dies, the spirit of that body goes back to God and the body is truly dead.


James, here has compared the body,first part of the equation no.1 to the faith we all have been given in equation no. 2, and he compares in equation no. 1 the spirit to works in equation 2 , in other words just as the spirit gives life to the body...so works makes our faith come alive. Let me repeat what James is saying here. He is saying that works is the life that faith requires.Think on this for a while and let the Holy Spirit guide you.
Now I would have thought when considering these things that James would associate the body with works and the spirit with faith, (remember the spirit gives life) but he uses this illustration to show us that faith is useless until you put it to work. He says in verse 18, "but someone will say , you have faith and I have works." Remember the old secular song, "love and marriage...you can't have one without the other?" Well that is faith and works, you can't have faith without works....you can however have works without faith and that's no good either. You must have both says James. Abraham had both and he was called the friend of God. Rahab was a hooker and she was justified by her works because she acted in faith when she received the spies. So you need to believe but you need to act on it also. It can be action by prayer. We all say the church needs revival but if we do not repent and if we do not pray earnestly, then nothing happens. James uses another example in chapter 5 and it is just what I am saying....Elijah was a man just like we are and he prayed. We will consider this in a later blog.